Daikin launches first R32 unit in SA!

Daikin is first-to-market in South Africa with its range of R32 split units that were officially launched at two functions at the end of 2018.

Daikin introduced its range of energy-efficient Sky Air R32 split units – and its new managing director – to the industry with two launch events. The Johannesburg event took place on 31 October 2018 at Urbanologi with Cape Town following the next day on 1 November at Just Like Papa.

Although R32 (an HFC) split units have been popular world-wide for some time now, Daikin is the first supplier to bring these units into South Africa, leading what they call the ‘BlueVolution’ mission. It urged various stakeholders present (including distributors, contractors and other industry members) to ‘join the future’.

In Cape Town, Daikin Cape Town branch manager, Tory Sabatti formally welcomed everyone to the event and introduced the new managing director (MD) who started that day – Koen Van Wynendaele.

Michael Bynens, Daikin South Africa’s corporate and sales planning manager, then shared a brief history of the company and the timeline in terms of its product development, leading up to this launch. He spoke about where Daikin started and where the company is heading, highlighting the fact that Daikin SA will also take on the local refrigeration market in 2019 with their extensive global product range.

Liam Mackenzie, Daikin SA sales director, went into more detail about R32 as a refrigerant and why the company has moved towards this option. He looked at a history of refrigerants and shared future trends before going into the technical properties of the refrigerant and motivating why it’s a good idea to switch to R32.

He compared R32 to R310A and R290 alternatives and showed a video proving how difficult it is to ignite R32, addressing concerns over its A2L mildly flammable status. He also showed practical tips looking at how you would change from R410A, including how the tooling differs.

Bynens then introduced the actual BlueVolution product R32 residential split unit range which is now available in South Africa. This includes the Emura, Perfera and Sensira ranges, the first two of which he looked at in detail, communicating the various new and exciting features.

Mackenzie then spoke about the new Sky Air A-series before Bynens closed off by announcing that all Daikin units will now come standard with the new elegant Madoka controller, which is more user-friendly and more visually attractive than previous controllers.

Bynens ended off by urging contractors to take pride in their work and deliver quality installations for the quality products now available.

Afterwards, Daikin staff answered questions and showed off the demo R32 units on display and offered a look inside the units too. A lucky business card draw was also done with the chance to win a Daikin cooler fridge.